Partners in crime
by RuinsoftheMoonVII
Summary: Naoto Shirogane's account of the most bizarre day of her life: she is accused by the police, hauled in for questioning, on the run, scared, confused, and then married to Kanji Tatsumi, all in just one day...


**A/N: WARNING - May be sliiiiighty OOC xDD and full of complete randomness o3o**

**This story, the events and dialogue are entirely based on an RP I did with our Persona 4 group on DeviantArt xD**

**Kanji suggested I put it into story form – it was difficult, trying to keep them in role in such a situation, but here it is anyway! X'D**

**I played as Naoto, thus it was written from her point of view =w= It was a good opportunity for me to practice writing from a first person perspective!**

**Enjoy~!**

…**..**

_How_ could I have let things come to this?

"Don't you kids move. I'll be right back."

Being spoken down to by Dojima-san wasn't exactly the worst thing in the world. I was quite used to it by now… being called a "kid", and having my status as a detective completely disregarded by the police.

What was _immensely _irritating though, was being held in interrogation for something I wasn't even supposed to have been involved with.

Tatsumi-san stood awkwardly beside me in the room, clearly anxious – I suppose the last thing he wanted was to be arrested again, and stir up more trouble for his mother.

But _he_ was the reason that I was dragged here in the first place…

"Ahh… Naoto?"

I dared not look up at him.

Admittedly I was aggravated; but more so, restless.

I'd discovered Dojima-san talking with Tatsumi around the Textiles shop; the conversation was getting a little heated, and so I'd chosen to step in. From what I'd gathered, someone had complained about a disturbance involving a biker gang, and – unsurprisingly - Tatsumi was an instant suspect.  
Being as irascible as he is, Tatsumi wasn't helping his case at all by getting defensive and angry. It also didn't help that Dojima-san had already been suspicious of Yu-sempai and the rest of us, regarding the murder case here in Inaba…  
And so, in some tangled turn of events, Tatsumi-san and I wound up being dragged in for questioning.

Of course, I'd attempted to object, in order to try to get us out of the situation… but I only ended up having my hat taken by Adachi-san, and told not to speak back to "adults".

Hence, my unease.

I felt somewhat misplaced without my hat; I suppose it's been a while since I went out without it. I'm so accustomed to hiding my identity in public.

I shifted under Tatsumi's gaze, not making eye contact while we stood waiting for Dojima-san to return. He was probably trying to apologise… but I wasn't terribly interested, at that moment in time.

All was quiet.

It sounded as if the chief was making a coffee in the next room.

Fortunately, Adachi-san wasn't around; I wasn't in the mood to deal with any more of the police.  
I found myself starting to feel anxious; I'd managed to maintain my nerves, like I always did, but I knew things would get difficult if Dojima-san decided to start questioning us about the murder investigation.  
He seemed intent that we were up to something, and I had a feeling he wasn't going to let us go easily – perhaps he thought this was a good opportunity to try and get answers from us, seeing as Yu-sempai hadn't given the chance to be questioned himself. The various possibilities ran through my mind…

"Naoto…"

Tatsumi said my name again and a frown grew on my face. It was tiring to try and think.

I had to get us out of this situation…  
Not only could we all end up being accused, but my very name as a detective could be damaged if we let on anything about the world inside the T.V.  
The very concept had sounded bizarre to me, at first – I knew the "adults" here would never believe us.

Dojima-san was sharp though – certainly the best in Inaba at his job.  
We wouldn't be able to slip out of here easily…

…

Had that thought just crossed my mind?!

I must have been more worked up than I thought, to even imagine something so absurd.

We couldn't just _run away_…

No - we'd be apprehended, and then be in even _worse _trouble…

Although, it's not as if we had a reason to be interrogated in the first place.

This whole scenario was proving to be a waste of my time.

Whatever eccentric "plans" were going through my head were suddenly stopped short, as the door handle turned sharply. Dojima-san was entering – carrying a coffee mug as I had predicted.

Then, what happened next completely caught me off guard.

Tatsumi-san pushed me.

He _pushed _me.

I never would have been prepared for such an action. I stumbled forward, losing balance, as Tatsumi-san was already sprinting past Dojima through the door.

"W-What?!" the chief cried, spilling his hot drink in the process.

Those serious eyes of his suddenly turned down on me, shrinking me in his glare.

"Shirogane! You let him get away!"

I wanted to speak; ask him _how _on earth this was my doing?

It seemed Tatsumi-san had been thinking the same unruly thoughts as I… except, I hadn't anticipated that he might actually _act_ upon them.  
This was bad.

I couldn't utter a word, quite stunned to say the least. It was incredibly unlike me; what was wrong?

I continued to stare; my heart sinking like a stone, as Dojima-san suddenly pulled some handcuffs from behind him.

This _wasn't _happening.

My mind was a whirl – and my stomach could barely keep up.

Before I knew it, I was speeding out after Tatsumi, as fast as my legs would carry me. I don't think I'd ever run so fast in my life.

"H-Hey! SHIROGANE!" he bellowed after me.

The sting of Dojima-san's cries should have compelled me to stop; but my body just refused to listen.  
I flew out the doors of the station, and darted up the street behind Tatsumi-san – it took a lot of effort for me to keep up with him.

"W-What are we _doing_…?!" I exclaimed, wide-eyed between breaths; the question had mostly been to myself.

"Isn't Rise's place nearby?! We can hide there!" he cried in response, glancing sideways at me as our feet pounded side by side along the pavement.

There was a looming sensation rising into my throat; I could hardly level with what was going on. My mind was going off the rails.

Yu-sempai and the others had only rescued me from the T.V. world a short time ago; the fact that I was still quite shaken (not openly, of course) from the experience was the only thing I could pin these rash impulses on. I just hadn't been thinking clearly, since having to face my shadow self.

…We were going to be in _such_ trouble for this.

Nonetheless, I found myself following Tatsumi all the way to the Tofu store.  
By an awful coincidence, it was closed.

"Damn…" Tatsumi growled next to me, before rapping on the front door, "Yo! Rise, ya there?!"

This had been inevitable. Why had I run away with him?

I still couldn't think straight; the sound of a siren was drawing nearer, and soon Dojima-san drew up in his car.

"What the hell are you two _doing_?!" he was livid; and rightly so.

My face had gone pale, only wishing I had remained rational back there. He probably would have just let me off, had I explained myself…

Maybe there was still a chance.

"Tatsumi…" I murmured, "Get out of here while you still can. I'll take responsibility for this."

Although he had been the one to push Dojima, I somehow felt like this was my fault.

I was still a detective – I had the necessary skills for talking myself out of situations, even tricky ones such as this. I didn't want Tatsumi getting arrested, or myself for that matter; and I couldn't risk jeopardising our investigation team.

I planned on keeping Dojima-san talking – telling him this was all just a misunderstanding – but Tatsumi caught me off guard again, for the second time in the space of a half hour.

"No, just go on without me, Naoto." He grumbled, "I dragged ya into this in the first place… I'll just make something up – tell 'im that you were tryin to catch me. It'll get _you_ off the hook at least."

As if this couldn't get any more confusing.

Now the two of us were arguing, trying to "save" each other?

I lost the will to try and keep up.

"Tatsumi, I'm going to have to arrest you for assaulting an officer." Dojima barked, before his eyes shifted, "And you, Shirogane… I'm surprised at you! What were you doing? Trying to cover for him?"

Tatsumi interjected, "S' not like that, sir! L-Let Naoto go, okay? She didn't do nothing…"

"Neither did _you_ – he wasn't leading that gang dispute, sir." I found my voice, and it was sharp; I wasn't at all happy about being caught up in this, but at the same time I wasn't about to let Tatsumi-san take the blame. This had _originally_ been about an accusation of a biker mob, which I knew he hadn't been involved in… at least, that's what I thought this was all about. I couldn't be sure anymore.

Dojima was shaking his head, "Doesn't matter – I'm taking you both back with me."

He was reaching for his handcuffs again, and I noticed a twitch in Tatsumi's face. I blinked when he suddenly turned to me.

"U-Uh, Naoto…" his face was turning red, "I know we're about to get arrested and all, but…"

What he came out with, didn't even register with me for a good few moments.

"Will ya_ marry me?!"_

Dojima-san was just as shocked as I was.  
Surely, I thought, this must be a hoax, just to allow us to escape.

"U-Um… Aren't we, a little young for that, Tatsumi-san?"

Why was my face going red now?

His look of dejection was convincingly serious – I'd never felt so stupefied in my life, watching him heave a lump of fabric from virtually out of nowhere.

"B-But I made you a dress and everything!" he cried, thrusting it toward me.

I goggled at him blankly; then at the dress.  
Did he lug that thing around with him, just in case a situation like this arose?! It seemed too well-timed to me.

Dojima-san was staring in disbelief. He furrowed his brow.

"Stop fooling around!"

He snatched the dress out of Tatsumi's hands, receiving a look of horror.

"It took me _three weeks _to sew that!"

"You can talk about your 'engagement' on the way back to the station!" The chief snapped with utmost sarcasm, yanking open the back door of his car and motioning for us to get inside.

With Tatsumi muttering to himself, I mutely followed him into the back of the car. Dojima-san resumed the driver's seat, and only drove with us so far before the engine began to whirr, rather loudly.

"Rrgh… what now?!"

The chief despaired, as he stopped and got out of the car to look over it – making sure to lock us in first.

"D-Did you do that, Naoto?"

I blinked, shaking my head emptily.  
Every misdeed of the day so far seemed to be assigned to me.

Alarm bells sounded in my mind, when I noticed Tatsumi quickly slipping over into the driver's seat.

"W-What are you—"

"H-HEY!" Dojima-san cried; but Tatsumi had already roared the engine into life.

"Sorry! Just borrowing this!"

I drew a breath, clutching onto my seat for dear life as he launched the police vehicle off down the street.

"D-Do you even know how to drive?!" my voice came out in something of a high-pitched squeal.

"NOPE!" he called over his shoulder, above the wretched screeching of the engine; he batted one eye at me in a strange fashion, "Heh… s' like two lovers on the run, huh?!"

I was propelling deeper into this living nightmare by the second.

Facing shadows in the other world seemed like child's play compared to this.

I wanted to stop him; or scream; or just do something before he crashed the vile thing!

But to my outright relief, the car gave out on us.

With a burning screech, the car shook a few times before the engine completely stopped dead. We were stranded outside Junes.

Tatsumi swore loudly.

My heart was thundering against my chest; I was too stunned to even _start_ berating him, for doing something so foolish. Being arrested was certainly more appealing than the thought of being killed!

"STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!"

Dojima-san had caught up already, on a police bike this time. Tatsumi had been repeatedly thumping his head against the wheel, before he turned to me with an unusual gleam in his eyes.

"Naoto… you got your gun on ya?"

My face had flushed from all the nauseous exhilaration; I hadn't heard what he'd said.

I suddenly looked up, when Dojima-san opened the car door; Tatsumi had seized my pistol and did an extremely ungraceful lurch out onto the road.

"Don't move! I have a _weapon_!"

Nothing else could surprise me at this point.

Dojima-san demonstrated his worth of being a police chief, and did an expert barrel roll, snatching my gun straight from his hands. …And his eyes were on _me_ again!

"Now! _Explain_ why you two just stole my car!"

"B-But—!" I stammered, having completely lost my composure by now.

Tatsumi threw me off, grabbing my hand suddenly, "S-Sir, this is my fault… d-don't punish Naoto for this…"

Why was he doing all of this?

… and why was I unable to form a single sentence?!

I just had to say something… _anything!_

"Y-You can't book us, sir!" words just rolled out of my mouth, "N-Not… not on our wedding day!"

"H-Huh?!" Kanji turned to me, wide-eyed, "Y-Y-You mean…? SUCCESS!"

"What the heck is this a_bout_?!" Dojima sneered.

I could have sworn I saw a vein pop through his head; I could fully understand the anger and confusion he was going through.

"Kanji-chan? What's going on here?"

"M-Ma!?"

The most unlikely person, in the most unlikely place, just _happened _to show up at that moment. Mrs. Tatsumi was walking over, her brows knitting together. Dojima-san swivelled toward her in desperation.

"This has to be a mistake." Mrs. Tatsumi was smiling, mildly.

I piped up, words tumbling out again, "It _is _a mistake! Just a huge misunderstanding!"

Tatsumi nodded, "Yeah! We just hi-jacked a car and threatened this guy's life, is all!"

I slapped my forehead, giving him the most deadly of glares I had ever given a person.

"W-What?!" he cried, frantic, "M-Might as well be honest…?"

We were doomed.

"Mrs. Tatsumi," Dojima coughed loudly, sneaking a scowl in our direction, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to arrest your son, and his _bride_."

"B-BRIDE?!" I half-choked, my face glowing red; when had this become official?!

"I'm certain it's just a misunderstanding…" Mrs. Tatsumi had begun to say, but her face lit up at the last word, "Wait… bride?!"

"U-Uh…" everyone's eyes were on Tatsumi; he was red too, "Y-Yeah! I meant to tell ya, ma! I got married!"

"Oh! That's wonderful news!" his mother appeared delighted.

Dojima-san looked completely lost; it was then I realised this may be our chance to escape. Again, cursed impulses…

"W-We'll have to discuss things later, Dojima-san." I bowed quickly, "Wedding day, and all. We really need to get going, so…"

"Yeah!" Tatsumi cried, "I still need to rent a tux!"

Dojima's face suddenly changed. In a flash, he was scrambling back over to this car, and pulling something out of the trunk. My mouth fell open.

"Here, you can use mine!" he declared, holding up a rather moth-eaten charcoal tuxedo.

Kanji pulled a face in disgust, "Dude, are those… cobwebs?!"

I nudged him harshly in the ribs, whispering dangerously, "_Just_ go along with it."

I wasn't about to let him mess up our best possible chance of getting away.

"It's… too small."

Tatsumi _actually _put it on.

Out of everything that had happened today, this was certainly the highlight of it. I had already squandered my front, and so it took a lot for me not to start laughing. He looked absolutely ridiculous.

Dojima glowered, "Look, pal! It's either that, or I'll arrest you right now!"

Tatsumi grew a false smile, "I-I love it! U-Uh, does Naoto get her dress back then?"

I found the white bundle being shoved into my arms; I blinked rapidly.

"Right." The chief nodded, turning on me with a sly expression, "And I expect to be made the best man at your wedding!"

Was he just playing along in front of Mrs. Tatsumi?!

"Actually, I was gonna have Yu-senp—" Tatsumi started, but I sharply kicked the back of his leg, "I-I mean of course! Why wouldn't ya be?!"

"That's what I thought." Dojima-san smiled, _far _too cheerfully.

…

Dojima-san _did_ actually let us off in the end – even though we stole his car, and technically assaulted an officer. He punished us in his own way, by inviting practically everyone from the police force to come and watch us be wed.

Yu-sempai and the others came too… but that really is a story for another time.

And so, that's how I ended up married to Kanji Tatsumi – my partner in crime.


End file.
